ERO foes ask court to force city to certify repeal petitions

Updated 4:43 pm, Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Conservative opponents of Houston's equal rights ordinance have asked an appeals court to force the city secretary to certify the signatures on their petitions to force a repeal referendum on the November ballot.Equal rights ordinance critics filed a request late Monday with Houston's 14th Court of Appeals for an emergency writ of mandamus that would compel the city secretary to certify their rejected petition.The filing marks the latest legal wrangling over the group's lawsuit, already scheduled to be heard in state district court Friday. The suit claims City Attorney David Feldman illegally inserted himself into the petition verification process, throwing out entire pages of signatures based on notary and signature-gathering mistakes.City Secretary Anna Russell initially counted enough signatures to send the issue to the ballot, with about 600 more than the required 17,269 signatures. Before Russell had checked all the signatures, the city attorney's office checked the petition pages to make sure those who gathered the signatures met city charter requirements -- that they were registered Houston voters and signed each page, for instance.That process disqualified more than half the group's 5,199 pages, leaving opponents roughly 2,000 signatures short of getting a referendum on the November ballot. Last Tuesday, the day after Feldman and Mayor Annise Parker announced that opponents had not gathered enough valid signatures, the group filed suit in state district court.Jared Woodfill, one of the plaintiffs, said Russell's original count should be validated. The writ of mandamus the group is seeking would compel Russell to verify signatures based solely on whether those who signed the petition are registered Houston voters and disregard the notary requirements Feldman considered."The people need to decide this as soon as possible," Woodfill said.If the group cleared the signature threshold, the ballot language immediately would go before City Council.Feldman said the group's filing largely mirrors the suit already pending in state court."They're effectively trying to get two bites at the same apple," Feldman said. "Substantively, we're really dealing with the same issues."City Council approved the equal rights ordinance in May, banning discrimination among businesses that serve the public, private employers, in housing and in city employment and city contracting. Religious institutions are exempt.Opponents disliked protections extended to gay and transgender residents, groups not already protected under federal discrimination laws, and promised to send the issue to the voters.Woodfill said the group has until the end of the month to get the issue on the November ballot. However, he said he anticipates that even if the court of appeals grants the group's request, there will be a "battle" to meet that deadline.